Korea’s DMZ is More Than Just Soldiers
One photojournalist was granted rare access to the demilitarized zone. This is what he saw.
Park Jongwoo
- Park Jongwoo01The Korean Demilitarized Zone was established in 1953 as part of the armistice agreement that ended three years of brutal fighting between North and South Korea.
- Park Jongwoo02In 2009, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense granted photojournalist Park Jongwoo rare access to this two-mile-wide swath of land.
- Park Jongwoo03Jongwoo spent the next eight years photographing the DMZ. Because of the thousands of land mines that litter the area, he was accompanied at all times by a squadron of South Korean soldiers.
- Park Jongwoo04The DMZ stretches across the 155-mile width of the Korean peninsula and is bounded on both sides by barbed-wire fences—and one of the largest concentrations of soldiers and artillery in the world.
- Park Jongwoo05Here, a South Korean soldier stands guard at the Southern Limit Line overlooking the frozen Han River, which flows from North Korea to South Korea through the DMZ.
- Park Jongwoo06“I thought inside the DMZ would be this fully armed area with artillery and machine guns and missiles,” Jongwoo said. “But when I first went in, it just looked like a really peaceful area.”
- Park Jongwoo07Because the zone is off-limits to human development, it has become something of a wildlife refuge for endangered birds; more than 6,000 animal and plant species have been identified in the area, including 106 labeled endangered or protected.
- Park Jongwoo08This abandoned bridge has remained untouched since the 1953 armistice. With no humans allowed to enter this area, it has become a resting place for migrating cormorants.
- Park Jongwoo09Despite the recent thaw in inter-Korean relations due to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Jongwoo expressed skepticism about the prospect for reunification, at least within his lifetime.
- Park Jongwoo10“There are so many obstacles to peace talks, so most people are still worried about that,” Jongwoo said. “But for this moment, for the Olympics, we’re happy.”
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